Members of the Human Sensorimotor Control (HSC) Laboratory, directed by School of Kinesiology professor Jürgen Konczak, published a paper that continues their work in developing a treatment for the voice disorder spasmodic dysphonia. The paper, Real-Time Voice Activity Detection Using Neck-Mounted Accelerometers for Controlling a Wearable Vibration Device to Treat Speech Impairment, further tested and assessed a wearable collar-like device that delivers vibro-tactile stimulation (VTS) to the larynx during speech as a therapy for patients with spasmodic dysphonia. 

This study explored the use of wearable accelerometers instead of microphones. Specifically, it aimed to find the ideal location for placing accelerometers to the neck, and develop a voice activity detection algorithm that detects the onset and offset of speech. The paper concluded that accelerometer signals due to tissue motion at thyroid cartilage are most suitable for real-time voice activity detection. Their findings support the feasibility of accelerometer-based voice detection for the use in medical devices that target speech and voice disorders.

This paper is from the 2020 Design of Medical Devices Conference, and was published in the Frontiers of Biomedical Devices conference proceedings journal on July 27, 2020. Publishing authors are Saurav Dubey, Arash Mahnan, and Jürgen Konczak.